This won't be too long as it's mostly just for my reference but in a nutshell, I felt a bit headachy and off-colour on Wednesday. Went for my drain change on Thursday morning and during it, started to get bad leg pain. An hour later got very dizzy and nauseous. Two hours later I had a full on fever (head boiling, body freezing), nausea, rigours, lips blue, struggling to breathe, forgetting simple words, blinding headache, very severe stabbing pain in leg and groin. By 4pm it was evident I needed an ambulance so my lovely husband stayed very calm and did a brill job of getting me help.
When the paramedics arrived, they did my vitals and they were pretty bad. Temperature was 39.3C, pulse was 150bpm, and blood pressure had dropped to 80/45. Got rushed to Wigan A&E, had chest x-ray, pelvic x-ray, arterial and venous bloods, urine sample, tests for meningitis and 3 bags of saline and antibiotics. Cancer leg was drawn on to the indicate infected area around the drain, which was bright red and turgid. Drain bag was full of blood and tissue, around 600ml since 12pm.
After a terrible night's no-sleep thanks to noisy nurses again, I got transferred back to Whiston. Needed a wheelchair for even toilet trips as I'm in too much pain to walk but vitals were a lot better. Another chest x-ray, more blood and urine samples, more meningitis tests, another bag of saline and 2 bags of antibiotics. I have been stuck with 12 needles in the last 30 hours and have officially run out of veins - they want to put a bigger cannula in but there's nowhere left. The nurse tried 3 veins on my wrists but it hurt too much and they just don't work.
Communication isn't great so I'm unclear on what's causing the infection and whether my drain will come out. I think it's the source. The consultant and drainage nurse both don't work weekends so I'll be stuck here til at least Monday. All signs point to severe sepsis. We caught it early though before the point of brain damage/organ failure.
As I understand it, future plans include a pelvic CT, an ultrasound to rule out appendicitis, maybe a spinal tap to fully rule out meningitis and daily blood tests. Embarrassment of the day yesterday - discussing bowel movements in front of my husband. Embarrassment of the day today - narrowly missing a helpful porter's shoes when vomiting from my wheelchair.
At least I have a private room this time round and over my dead body are they kicking me out of it!
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